Must Be Love
by Sarah1281
Summary: Little Clark comes home with questions about why being near Lana makes him dizzy and a little sick and Jonathan thinks he knows the answer. Clark's got his first crush. It's not like there's any OTHER explanation for these symptoms, after all...


Must Be Love

Disclaimer: I do not own Smallville.

Note: In my psych class we learned about how people can attribute a fast heartbeat they get from an unrelated source to attraction and it made me think of this.

Clark quietly watched his father making them lunch. Martha was running errands in town so it was just the two of them.

"Dad," Clark began hesitantly, unsure of how to explain what he meant.

Jonathan glanced up and smiled at him. "Yeah?"

"There's something…weird about Lana," Clark announced. She had lived next door to him forever but since they had a farm it really wasn't all that close. It definitely wasn't as close as next-door to houses in a normal neighborhood. They had never really talked but this year she was in his class and sat only a few seats away from him.

Jonathan frowned at that. "Clark, it's not nice to call your classmate's weird."

"Yeah, I know but-" Clark started to say.

"You have to be especially nice to Lana because her parents are dead," Jonathan instructed. "That poor girl has been through enough."

Clark sighed. "I'm sorry. I wasn't trying to be mean. I just don't understand."

Jonathan turned off the stove and got out two plates. He put one grilled cheese on Clark's plate and one on his own. He went to the fridge and pulled out a jar. "Pickle?"

Clark made a face. "Ew!"

Jonathan laughed. "Didn't think so. Still, never hurts to ask."

He put two pickles on his own plate and then put the jar back in the fridge.

Clark took his plate and put it in front of his spot at the table before sitting down. He waited until his father had done the same before continuing their conversation. "There's something about Lana that's different than other girls. Different than other boys, too. It's not her dead parents or anything. I don't know what it is."

Jonathan clearly had his own idea about what this might be going on if the way he was grinning was any indication. "Huh."

"What? What is it?" Clark asked eagerly. He knew his dad would be able to help. His dad knew _everything_.

"Well, I don't want to say anything too soon in case I'm wrong," Jonathan cautioned, sounding amused. "Why don't you tell me a little more about what makes Lana so different."

"Well…" Clark trailed off, thinking. He tilted his head the way he'd seen his mom do sometimes when she was trying to remember something. "It's not that she looks different and she doesn't act different. She might be nicer than other people and she has more friends but that's not it."

"Then what is it?" Jonathan pressed.

"I feel different," Clark said at last. "She makes me feel really strange when I get close to her."

Jonathan hastily turned a chuckle into a cough.

Clark frowned. "What?"

"Oh, nothing. Just my little boy, all grown up," Jonathan said fondly.

"I don't get it," Clark complained after thinking it over for a few minutes.

"Could you be a little more specific about how she makes you feel strange?" Jonathan requested.

Clark shuddered slightly s he thought back to it. "I feel dizzy whenever she's around. Sometimes I feel a little sick. I start sweating and I feel weak. I also get really clumsy around her and it's hard to talk."

Jonathan nodded like he'd just confirmed something he'd been suspecting. "Right. Clark, what do you think about Lana?"

Clark frowned. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, do you like her? You said that she's really nice," Jonathan reminded him.

"I guess so," Clark said, shrugging. "Everyone likes Lana."

"Do you think she's pretty?" Jonathan continued. He blinked. "You are past the cootie phase, right?"

"I was never _in_ the cootie phase," Clark insisted, pointedly refusing to think about when Pete had managed to convince him that all girls had cooties. He had never really thought about whether Lana was pretty. Everyone always said so, though. The girls always told Lana how pretty she was and wanted to wear clothes like hers or do their hair like hers. "I guess she's pretty."

"Problems solved," Jonathan said cheerfully. "I know what this is."

"You do?" Clark asked hopefully. "What is it?"

"You have a crush on Lana," Jonathan explained.

"Really?" Clark asked dubiously. That didn't sound right. "But…it hurts when I get near her. It's hard to breathe and I can't think clearly until she's gone."

"It's called puberty, son," Jonathan said, chuckling. "It looks like you're right on schedule. That's a relief."

"Why?" Clark asked curiously.

Jonathan tensed for a moment before answering. "Every parent worries about their child and I remember from when I was a teenager – not that long ago actually – that it's always hard if everyone else goes through puberty before you," he said smoothly.

"Oh," Clark said. That made sense.

"Going through puberty means you're going to have all these hormones and going to start having a crush on girls," Jonathan explained. "It looks like Lana is your first."

"And all of this is what it means to have a crush? And it happens to everyone?" Clark asked uncertainly. "But…but it's _awful_!"

"It's not all bad," Jonathan assured him. "It's pretty fun, too. Or it will be when you're older. When you have more experience with crushes you'll be able to handle it better."

"I have a crush on Lana Lang," Clark said slowly. "And I can tell because it hurts when I get near her and I kind of want to run away."

Jonathan nodded. "That's right."

"So as long as I feel this way around her, I like her," Clark concluded. It still seemed a little weird but his dad wouldn't steer him wrong and if it happened to everyone then it must be happening to him, too. "Okay. I can remember that."

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